Sea Dogs’ Bogaerts heads to Pawtucket

Bogaerts, the top ranked prospect in the Boston Red Sox organization by Baseball America, hit a team leading .311 (68-for-219) in 56 games for the Sea Dogs this season with 12 doubles, six triples, six home runs, 35 RBI, and five stolen bases. He reached base safely in 50 of 55 games with the Sea Dogs and was tied for the team lead with 18 multi-hit games. His six triples was tied for the league lead.

The 20-year-old was named the 2012 Red Sox Minor League Offensive Player of the Year hitting a combined .307 with 37 doubles, three triples, 20 home runs, and 81 RBI between High-A Salem and Double-A Portland.

Bogaerts, an Aruba native, was signed by the Red Sox as an international free agent on August 23, 2009.

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Malkin agrees to $76 million extension with Penguins

June 13 (Reuters) — Russian forward Evgeni Malkin has agreed an eight-year $76 million contract extension with the Pittsburgh Penguins, the National Hockey League team announced on Thursday.

The league’s reigning most valuable player, Malkin has a year left on his current contract but his new deal, which begins in the 2014-15 season will run through until 2022 and has an average annual value of $9.5 million.

“He’s a caring player, a hard-working player,” Penguins general manager Ray Shero told reporters. “I believe his best days are ahead of him.”

Malkin, the second overall pick in the 2004 NHL draft behind Alex Ovechkin,has been named to four NHL All-Star games and has twice been the winner of the Art Ross Trophy for the league’s top points scorer.

Over seven seasons 26-year-old forward has averaged more than a point a game and scored 217 goals, including a career high 50 during the 2011-12 campaign.

“I’m so happy,” Malkin said on a conference call. We’re still young,” Malkin said. “We are a group who wins Stanley Cup before and I believe we will win again.”

Last year the Penguins locked up their other superstar and former-MVP, Sidney Crosby to 12-year contract extension keeping the dynamic core of their team in place well into the next decade.

The move is the second major deal completed by the Penguins who on Wednesday inked a two year extension with head coach Dan Bylsma.

Report: Wallace turned down better offer

Wide receiver Mike Wallace had 60 million reasons to spend the next the next five years with the Miami Dolphins, and turned down a more lucrative offer from the Minnesota Vikings, his father told USA Today Sports.

Mike Wallace III told the paper that his son said no to Minnesota’s $76 million offer.

Wallace, 26, received $30 million in guaranteed money in his Dolphins deal, and insisted that money wasn’t the only reason he left Pittsburgh for South Florida.

“In free agency, with so many great guys, when you get the prize deal, it’s always a good feeling,” Wallace told the paper. “I just wanted to be happy. Money isn’t everything. A lot of people last year, when I held out in Pittsburgh, took it the wrong way, felt like I was just being greedy.”

Eagles sign quarterback Barkley

Quarterback Matt Barkley signed a four-year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles, the team announced Thursday.

Barkley was the 98th overall pick in the 2013 draft. The former Southern Cal product had been projected as a top-50 pick, but the all-time leading passer in USC history was criticized for his climbing interception total as a senior despite starting every season since his freshman year of high school. He was unable to work out with his peers at the NFL Scouting Combine because of a shoulder injury.

Barkley’s selection likely proves mobility isn’t a required skill in coach Chip Kelly’s offense. He ran a 4.9 in the 40-yard dash during pre-draft workouts, but threw 12 touchdown passes in four games against Kelly’s Oregon Ducks. Kelly said Barkley is ready to compete, but through minicamp only Michael Vick and Nick Foles took recurring repetitions with the first-team offense.

Dominique Blake gets six year ban for doping

KINGSTON, June 13 — Jamaican 400 metre runner Dominique Blake was banned for six years on Thursday for a second doping offence.

The Jamaica Anti Doping Disciplinary Panel issued the penalty after Blake tested positive for the banned stimulant methylhexanamine at last year’s Olympic trials.

It was her doping offence after she served a nine month suspension for testing positive to ephedrine in 2006.

“The panel unanimously decided that Ms Blake did not satisfy the panel comfortably that the substance entered her body without the intent to enhance sporting performance and we decided on a sanction of six years commencing this day June 13, 2013,” said Kent Pantry, the chairman of the disciplinary panel.

Blake finished sixth at the trials and was picked as a relay runner for the London Olympics but did not compete at the Games. Jamaica’s women finished third in the 4x400m relay.

Blake’s attorney said the sanction was excessive and Blake may appeal.

Rams sign all seven draft picks

EARTH CITY, Mo. — With one organized team activity remaining in the St. Louis Rams’ off-season program, the team went from having no draft picks signed to getting them all done Thursday. The Rams are the 10th NFL team to have their draft choices signed.

That includes two No. 1 picks, wide receiver Tavon Austin and linebacker Alec Ogletree. Those two bring to eight the number of first-round choices signed in the NFL.

The Rams had been the only team in the NFL without any signed draft picks, but that was by design. The team believes there’s no rush to get signing bonus money into players’ hands while they are participating in off-season work.

With OTAs ending Friday, the rookies will be around for another week for mostly conditioning and community activities.

Coyotes’ future to be decided soon

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman suggested Wednesday that the Phoenix Coyotes could see their future decided by the end of the month.

“There is a board of governors meeting on June 27 and a (Glendale) City Council meeting on June 25. Stuff is going to happen,” Bettman said during his annual state-of-the-league session with reporters covering the Stanley Cup Final.

Though Bettman didn’t put a deadline for a decision, deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the league plans to release a schedule in July, suggesting that the final week of June is key for the franchise that has been league-operated since 2009.

“Obviously we’re getting to the point where some decisions are going to have to be made, both by the city of Glendale and by us,” Bettman said Wednesday. “We haven’t set a deadline, but the time is getting shorter. … We’re still focused on making it work with the Coyotes staying in Arizona.”

After numerous suitors came and went, the NHL agreed last month to sell the team to Renaissance Sports & Entertainment, but the deal is contingent upon a new lease agreement for Jobing.com Arena being reached. Negotiations with Glendale continue to drag.

“Everyone knows what is on the table,” Daly said. “I think the puck is pretty much in the City of Glendale’s end.”

The league’s preference remains to keep the team in Glendale, but the relocation possibility exists.